Pacman Jones: When times got hard, Titans weren’t there for me

Posted by Michael David Smith on November 1, 2011, 6:57 AM EDT

AP

Bengals cornerback Adam “Pacman” Jones returns to Tennessee on Sunday to play the Titans, and he says he has mixed emotions about the team that drafted him, gave him his start, and eventually got rid of him after he became the poster boy for off-field problems in the NFL.

Jones told Jim Wyatt of the Tennessean that he blames himself, but he also wishes he had more support from the Titans.

“Yeah, I did [mess] things up off the field,” Jones said. “I blame myself for that. But I will say when times got hard [the Titans] weren’t there for me. But I ain’t holding no grudges, man. Life is too short for grudges. I don’t have time for all of that.”

Jones said he doesn’t expect Titans fans to give him a warm welcome on Sunday.

“Hell no fans aren’t going to give me a good ovation,” Jones said. “They booed me when I was there, so you know they are going to boo me when I’m on the other team. But I don’t care. That [expletive] don’t bother me.”

Jones played 30 games for the Titans in 2005 and 2006. Because of suspensions and injuries, he has played just 15 games since the start of 2007, including his first appearance of the season in the Bengals’ win over the Seahawks Sunday.

Having been at the game when Pacman and VY led the epic comeback against Eli and the Giants, I can assure Mr. Jones that we cheered for him big time when he wasn’t being a doofus.

For a year or two he was one of the most exciting players to watch in the league. Such awesome potential, wasted..

djstat says:Nov 1, 2011 7:18 AM

Dear “Pacman”

When you break the law and act like an A$$, most business organizations will not stand by you. Get over it an be thankful you have NFL talent.

contract says:Nov 1, 2011 7:22 AM

Pacman is a special kind of stupid.

richm2256 says:Nov 1, 2011 7:26 AM

“Yeah, I did [mess] things up off the field,” Jones said. “I blame myself for that. But I will say when times got hard [the Titans] weren’t there for me.
—————————————————————-
Way to accept responsibility, Jones.

Hey Pacman, when were you there for the Titans, was it when you held out for all the money after being drafted? Was it when you were “makin’ it rain”, or fighting with women, or when your car was in the cocaine bust? Were you helping the Titans during All Star Weekend in 2007? You’re just a painful memory and wasted draft pick to Titan fans.

Pacman, no one is going to have your back if you and your boys are emptying bullets on innocent bystanders. No one is going to have your back when you’re breaking the law.
Still haven’t learned this yet?!

imaginesuperbowlwin says:Nov 1, 2011 7:43 AM

I guess the Titans have CLASS and DIGNITY, two traits that have eluded most gangbangers. Cry me a river.

herlies says:Nov 1, 2011 7:48 AM

Why should they be?

Pacman was suspended for the entire 2007 season for multiple violations. They needed you Pacman, and you wern’t there for them.

Pac hasn’t changed. Still wants to blame everyone else for his “off-field problems” and issues. I suppose his memory of events during his time in Nashville is much different than everyone else remembers and records show.

mrbigass says:Nov 1, 2011 7:55 AM

Oh, boo hoo. The Titans didn’t give you a big hug and pat on the head.

Another delusional nitwit! No, make that THE delusional nitwit. Titans did make one mistake and that was drafting him. What were they negligent about? Maybe they should have hired a baby sitter for him so when he went out he left his guns at home.

Making in rain in the skrip club, going to jail every 2 weeks, being involved in shootings, traffic arrests, guys getting paralyzed, fights, suspensions, court dates, and they have the nerve to booo you?

Lighten up Tenn. fans

garyman1 says:Nov 1, 2011 8:04 AM

Pacman… “make it rain” in the stadium and the fans will cheer for you.

It’s hard to pull out a tissue for any under achiever whose made the money pac man has made. Especially in his case where the Titans were already giving him a second chance. On top of that, the only reason he needs people “there” for him is because he can’t stay out of trouble when he’s at a night club. It’s just so hard to feel bad for him.

This is another guy that is slighted that a team expected him to act like a mature, respectable individual with the money they were paying him. He is also disappointed that an NFL team wouldn’t keep him around when he couldn’t stay out of trouble.

When will these guys stop being a million dollar victim & just say it was all my fault, the team was within their rights to release me with my behavior.

To listen to guys like Pacman, Plaxico, Vick…it’s just plain pathetic. They make their own beds & want blame teams for being sick of this kind of player. GROW UP!!

I remember when I shot up a club my employer wasn’t there for me either.

thebigkahuna23 says:Nov 1, 2011 8:19 AM

You’re all being just as stupid as him. If the guy keeps getting in trouble you as management are clearly failing miserably in whatever attempt at disciplining him you’re making. Is it any wonder that when he gets to cincy after the titans quit on him he’s been relatively good at staying out of trouble?

No doubt Pacman brought a lot of these issues on himself. Nor is it the Titan’s organization responsibility to be there for him. On the other hand, the Cowboys and the Bengals both went above and beyond to prevent any issues. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t. But they signed him (despite his history) AND still reached out to help him. The difference is they were genuinely concerned about the man OFF the football field. He wasn’t just some investment who either panned our or didn’t. They treated him more like a family. They absolutely did not like the things he was involved in, but the still watched out for him when he did crazy or stupid stuff. Now the Titans can run their organization any way they choose to obviously. But the reality is some organizations talk up a family atmosphere and some show it with their actions. Their was obviously some dissention within the Titan’s war room about whether to draft Pacman. Some people didn’t want him, but were forced to accept him. So yeah it makes sense that they didn’t try overly hard to monitor Pacman off the field.

rgwhodey says:Nov 1, 2011 8:25 AM

WhoDey! Adam Jones is a beast, touches the ball for the first time in a year and takes it 64 yards.. Who else in the league can do that? He did accept responsibility, he’s just saying the team that was supposed to be there wasn’t they left him high and dry. But look at where the 2 teams are today, one is 5 – 2 and the other is 4-3, I think things worked out for the best with this guy. Keep up the work Adam

At least he landed on a team that understands what it is like to have a complete lowlife on the payroll.

Is there a giant turd magnet in Cincinnati or something?

bonniebengal says:Nov 1, 2011 8:39 AM

He STILL has some growing up to do but he’s come a long way. Whoever thought he’d be playing in the NFL again at all? Most of us didn’t. That being said, I wish he would keep his mouth shut. Now he’s riling up the Titans players. We need him healthy for the Pittsburgh game the following week.

He is just buying a little more time. I hate to say this, but when the football career is over, this guy will end up in jail. I just hope no one innocent gets killed by this guy still being on the streets.
Anybody else with less money that did the things this guy did would already be in prison. Sad, sad, situation….

I suspect I’m going to get a ton of thumbs down for this, but that’s ok.

I get what he is saying, and I can sort of see his point.

There is no doubt that Pacman made really stupid decisions, and got himself into no end of trouble.

While it isn’t managements responsibility to babysit their employees, it IS in their best interests to reach out and help them when it is clear they are in trouble. Especially when you are talking about someone who is very very gifted, but has essentially grown up without any kind of adult guidance.

I want to say again, it’s not the organizations job to police him. But failing to recognize that he is constantly getting in trouble, and subsequently reaching out to say “look dude, you are seriously effing up. What can we do to help you out here, to correct this behavior” isn’t policing him. That’s called compassion, and being both a decent human being/employer.

It’s not exactly the same situation, but it’s a reasonable parallel: If your most talented employee starts showing signs of drug/alcohol abuse, do you just cut that person loose, or do you talk with them and try to get them to agree to counseling, etc?

As a man, I’m still trying to figure out what there is to fight about in a strip club. You have got to be something beyond an A-HOLE to start a fight in a strip club. Real friends don’t let friends drink and drive. Real friends discourage you from getting into trouble. Blame your sorry azz friends, not the Titans.

njhitman says:Nov 1, 2011 9:07 AM

Nor was the strippers

theytukrjobs says:Nov 1, 2011 9:26 AM

The Vikings can bench him without pay for 4 games, so they still have 3 weeks before they have to make any kind of actual decision. He’ll likely get cut and then picked up by the Raiders after he beats the rap. Or go to prison.

The Vikings really shouldn’t have to rush to any kind of a decision, nor should people be irked if they take their time with it. What does it even matter? He’s suspended without pay for 4 games.

AndreJohnson80 says:Nov 1, 2011 9:27 AM

Stupid is as stupid does.

imjinbrdgr says:Nov 1, 2011 9:32 AM

OK his PR guy has almost got it. He has him saying that he blames himself. I wonder if he had to write that on his hand? Now he just needs to school him on the whole “times got tough” routine. Times didn’t get tough all by them selves Pacman. You acted like an idiot causing a man to be paralyzed for life. That’s what made them tough. And your employer didn’t stand behind you? How dare they!

klunge says:Nov 1, 2011 9:42 AM

They wanted to be there for you, but their wives wouldn’t let them go to the places you could be found at.

bernieb79 says:Nov 1, 2011 9:58 AM

One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Titans. Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky.

In each scene I noticed footprints in the sand. Sometimes there were two sets of footprints, other times there was one only.

This bothered me because I noticed that during the low periods of my life, when I was suffering from anguish, sorrow or defeat, I could see only one set of footprints, so I said to the Titans,

“You promised me Titans,
that if I followed you, you would walk with me always. But I have noticed that during the most trying periods of my life there has only been one set of footprints in the sand. Why, when I needed you most, have you not been there for me?”

The Titans replied, “The years when you have seen only one set of footprints, my child, is when I carried you.”

I remember he was arrested at least twice between the time he was drafted and when the Titans signed him.

I remember a local sportswriter at the time in an editorial said the Titans should just admit the mistake and not sign their first round pick, saving money and headaches. That guy was sure right.

I remember the guy meeting with the commissioner and lying about cleaning up his act while the commissioner new he had been out “clubbing” in New York the night before the meeting.

I also remember a 4th exhibition game against the Packers when Pacman was to field a punt and it bounced of his facemask.

Every team has a first round bust story. Floyd Reese was fired in this embarrassing one that the Titans and their fans want to be forgotten as soon as possible.

Victims and police databases will never forget.

NFLJunkie says:Nov 1, 2011 2:26 PM

I remember one of the points of frustration for the Titans when they were dealing with his accumulating off-field incidents and suspension. That he was missing counseling sessions and being a jerk with the player development person they had working with him.

I think he has a pretty twisted view of what being “there for him” was supposed to mean, given the repeated black eyes he gave the team every time he did something stupid off the field. Like he wanted someone to run interference for him, constantly, and deflect all the heat off of him.

They only did that for about the first half dozen incidents where he ended up in the police log, Eventually they let him take more direct hits for his own recurring stupidity. As it should’ve been.

This is the problem with these knuckleheads. What were they supposed to do? Follow you around to prevent your stupidity from taking over? Oh wait, thats what the Cowboys did basically. So shame on the Titans right? Accepting PART of the responsibility is no different than accepting NONE of it. You have more career arrests than interceptions and its all on you Pacman. Deal with it, man up, and don’t be sorry, be BETTER!

goblue714 says:Nov 2, 2011 9:08 PM

Is this guy serious? I’m so glad to see he’s learned his lesson NOT! Shame on cinncinnati for signing this AHole putting him back in a public forum to spew his brainless incoherent words. I literally need an ebonics dictionary to understand him.

goblue714 says:Nov 2, 2011 9:34 PM

I like the other story lewis blames west virginia for pacmans problems, and adam has been a great teammate with only 1 arrest this year in july. Not bad for a bengal huh? Seriously lewis said he’s grown up, then later in the story they reference an arrest back in july. Nothing says maturing then being arrested.